House Committees Begin Crafting Plans for Senate Bills

By
Brandon Smith

Posted March 21, 2011

As the Indiana Senate begins hearings on House bills, Speaker Brian Bosma says House committees will begin crafting plans of action for Senate bills.

Though the Speaker acknowledges that no official legislative action – like officially assigning bills or passing amendments – can happen in House committees until House Democrats return, he said hearing from the public on Senate bills in the House will speed the process along later.

“When the Democrats return, we’ll hand – if and when the Democrats return – we’ll hand down a bill list and then those committees can be scheduled just for amendment and vote,” Bosma said.

But the House still needs a quorum to do official business, and Michigan City Representative Scott Pelath said the only way to bring Democrats back is to reopen negotiations. Still, Pelath added that, for now, Democrats are happy the Senate is taking the lead on legislation.

“They have more experienced members over there who weren’t elected on the whim of any one election cycle, and we trust them that they’ll make sober judgments on some of these things,” said Pelath.

Pelath also echoed House Minority Leader Pat Bauer’s call for the House to recess until the Senate has finished working on House bills.

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